Judiciary, Budget Committees to Take Lead in K-12 Special Session

Judiciary, Budget Committees to Take Lead in K-12 Special Session

Article excerpt

A joint meeting of House and Senate judiciary committees Thursday
ahead of the Legislature's special session on education finance will
allow lawmakers and the public to dive into strategies to fix a
funding flaw and block a court-ordered closure of schools.

Sen. Jeff King, an Independence Republican and chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, said the plan called for no more than
two days of testimony and debate about immediate solutions to the
Kansas Supreme Court ruling, pointing to a constitutional defect of
Kansas' public school finance law.

The goal is to forward recommendations to the Legislature's
budget committees, he said.

"To me," King said, "the biggest part of this is we have to
address the financial concerns the court had for next year."

King said the joint committee would discuss placing a
constitutional amendment on the November ballot striking the high
court's authority to mandate closure of the K-12 school system. The
amendment would require two-thirds majorities in the House and
Senate before put on ballots.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, said movement
to allocate more aid to schools in the upcoming year could be
hampered by disagreement about source of that cash.

"That's where most of the debate will be in the Senate," he said.

Hensley said legislators might attempt to soften opposition to a
new financing bill by seeking expansion of state-financed
scholarships, or vouchers, for students attending private schools.

Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Ways
and Means Committee will wait until the June 23 launch of the
special session to work on legislation addressing the Supreme
Court's order. The justices set a June 30 deadline to correct
funding inequities, and noted possible closure of the education
system.

More than one solution will be put before House budget committee
members, said Rep. Ron Ryckman Jr., the Republican chairman of the
panel from Olathe. …